Steam-generator



(No Model.)

N. EATON. STEAM GENERATOR.

Patented Oct. l2, 1886.

f f y Il, PETERS. PholwLilhognpher. Wzxhfngnn. D. C.

'ated steam and gases are stored.

UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN EATON, OF VOBURN, MASSACHUSETTS.

STEAM-GENERATOR.

.'LPECIFICATIONorming part of Letters Patent No. 350,483, dated October12l 1886. Application filed June :28, 1886. Serial No. $6,526. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN EATON, a citi-` zen of thc United States,residing at Voburn, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Steam-Generator, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to steam-generators. Its nature is to confine acombustion so that, aided by the cooling influence of water, the portionof heat used in expanding the burning gases may be utilized in storingthem under a pressure greater than that of the air supplied to supportthe combustion, together with steam generated by the portion of heat notthus employed. Its features are, first, a furnacein which the combustiontakes place, arranged with valves that compel the burning gases to expelthemselves through a throat or outlet into a receptacle, they beingcooled and contracted as they leave the furnace; second, a device forinjecting air and water to aetuate the generator; third, a lining to thefurnace, of carbon or some other refractory material providing a livingsource of heat, fourth, vvents and vent-valves for the furnace, fifth, aretort within the furnace-space to vaporize a liquid fuel before itenters the furnace; sixth, a water-jacket around thevfurnacevand itsoutlet, which communicates with a passage through which the products ofthe furnace are eX- pelled.

In the drawings, Figure 1 representsa crosssection through y y of Fig.2. The latter figure is a vertical section, through x x of Fig. 3, Fig.3, a plan. Fi g. ais an elevation inthe same di rection as Fig. 2, andFig. is asection-through one of the vent-valves of the furnace,representing it on a larger scale than the other figures. Figs.,3 and 4are on a smaller scale. Fig. 4 represents the generator mounted on astand orfoot-piece. (Only shown in this figure.) In Fig. 2 I haveindicated the directions of the currents by arrows, the generator beingin full operation; also, I have represented the sections of some of thesmaller' parts in solid black to show'them clearly.

The same letters refer to the same parts in all the views.

The generator is intended to be used in conjunction with a reservoir inwhich the gener- This reser- Voir may be a common steam-boiler. I havenot shown it in the drawings, butwill hereinafter point out how they areconnected.

The invention may be adapted to either a liquid fuel or gas. In thisinstance a liquid fuel is used, and as itis desirable that it be in itsmost favorable condition to ignite before it enters the furnace, I iirstY introduce it through a pipe, e2, into a small retort,-'E,Which beinglocated within the furnace D, theliquid becomes a gas or is vaporizedwhen the furnace -temperature is high. It then passes through the pipee, ball check-valve e@ and through the inlet (l into the furnace alongwith a jet of air from nozzle O. The lining d to the furnace(represented by the heavy section-lines) has a partition, d?, on theslant-ing part of which the combustible charge strikes as it enters thefurnace, instantly ignites, and the gases of the combustion pass nearlyto the bottoni, turn, and make their exitthrough the passage d5, whichleads to Van outletfor throat, G, screwed into this passage. I prefer tomake this throat similar to the combining-cone ofthe injector,converging from the furnace. The main casting, which contains thefurnace, also has an air and water passage, Z1, a retort, E, a smallchamber, I, and a water jacket, f, castin it. This jacket continuesthrough the space inclosed between the throat G and a case,

R, which' is bolted to themain casting and concentric with the throat G,so that there is an annular opening between a nozzle, g', screwed to theend of throat G and the outlet r of case 1%. This nozzle holds in placea check-valve, g, which prevents the gases from returning to thefurnace. A reservoir partly filled with water is placed on a higherlevel than the generator, and is connected below its water-level withthe water-jacketf by a pipe,

F, having a check-valve, f', so that water from the reservoir circulatesaround the furnace and throat G, and is drawn into the outlet?` of caseR by the gases of the furnace as they discharge through nozzle g', andis carried back to the reservoir through a pipe, II, which is screwedinto the outlet r, and connected with the upper part of the reservoir.The hot gases from the furnace as they pass through this throat Ggenerate some steam from the water circulat- ICG ing around it, and arecooled and contracted.

The amount of steam thus generated and the contraction of the gasesdepend on the length of the throat when incased in water acket f.

I have provided other means for reducing the tempe ature of these gasesand generating steam, consisting of an opening or inlet, ft, in thepassage d, and communicating with the chamber I, into which both air andwater are forced. A nozzle, p, is screwed downl through this chamber,and is concentric with this inlet i, and a core, h, with a cone'shapedend, is screwed into this nozzle, so'that the air, which enters thelatter through its holes p p, dashes the water against this core h as itruns out of the inlet i, and distributes it among the hot gases from thefurnace as they pass into the outlet G.

The device for. supplying air and water to actuate the generatorconsists of the case A, bolted to the main casting and holdingcheekvalve Bin place. Within this ease isa th roat, c", eoncentri c withan annular nozzle, al, the latter being held in place by a valve, a5.Branching from this case is an air and water passage,

t, having a check-valve, a3, held in place by a small chamber orconnecting piece, ci, which is bolted to the case, and which hasairholes a' a in it, and in its upper end a water-cock, a., is screwed.

In Fig. 2 the furnace is represented with a vent, d3, in its upper end,having a vent-valve, d. The lower end of the furnace is closed by ahead, K, in which there is another vent, el", with a ventvalve, dl.These vent-valves are held in the ends of arms d and d, which arerepresented in this figure as broken oft'. In Fig. 4: these arms areshown secured to an u pright shaft, M, which is turned in boxes a n(screwed to the main casting) by handle S. Thus the valves are swungaround to cover the vents or uncover them. In Fig. 5 a spring is shownto hold the valve to its seat, which also serves as a safety-valve forthe furnace.

To start the operation of the generator, steam must be taken from someprime source. If a common steam-boiler is used for a reservoir, steam isfirst made in this and led to the generator by the pipe a, which isscrewed into valve cr". The vents of the furnace are opened, valve b andwater-cock a are closed, and the steam let on. through valve c, andpassing through the nozzle al, throat a, and passage b dischargesthrough nozzle C into the furnace. The liquid fuel is forced into theretort E by opening valve c3, and after filling the former passesthrough pipe c and the ball check-valve e and int-o thelfurnaee with thejet of air freni the nozzle C. The blast is lighted through vent d, nowopen, and passing through the furnace escapes through the vent c, alsonow open. The valve b being closed, the only exit for the steam isthrough this nozzle C, whose area is not sufficient to deliver it asfast as received when valve c5 is fully open, so there is abaclnpressure in the space between thelatter and the nozzle C, so thatthe checkvalve a3, through wfch air and water after ward pass, closes,the :"r to support the combustion at this stage of the operation beingdrawn through the vent d. The operation continues thus until the carbonlining d is hot enough to insure a combustion under pressure: By thistime the liquid fuel will be vaporized or changed to a gas. Valve b andwatereock a are now opened. By opening the former the back-pressure isrelieved and free air and water are drawn into the throat a" by the jetof steam lfrom nozzle 7. The water settlcsin the pocket as of the case,and is drawn in evenly around the annular opening between, this throatand nozzle c7 by the jet of steam from the latter. This water serves twopurposes-it condenses this steam, thereby adding to its efficiency indriving the air and water through the throat c", past check-valve B,into passage I), and also in cooling the hot gases of the furnace, bywhich it is converted into steam. From this passage b the air notdischarged through nozzle C to support the combustion, rushes past valveb into chamber I with the water, and blows the latter in a spray intothe passage d, as before described. The check-valve g being closed bythe pressure of the boiler, this air, loaded with water, enters thefurnace, and striking the hot partition d* the water is converted intosteam and rushes through the vent d with the products of the combustion.The vents are now closed, and the carbon lining and partition beingraised to a hightemperature, serve as a res ervoir, wherein a greatquantity of` heat is stored, whereby the steam and air loaded with waternow confined in the furnace are raised to a high tension, and,recoiling, close the check-valve B and the ball check-valve c in thefuel-pipe e, and force open the cheek-valve g in the throat G, throughwhich they rush, carrying with them the water aeeummulated in thisthroat and in the chamber I, which is converted into steam, the gasescollapsing.

The volume of steam thus generated, added to the reduced volume of gas,is less than the volume of the same gas under the same pressure beforeit meets the water in passing from the furnace. Thus an impact is givenby the gases rushing from the furnace, and also by the generated steam,both of which., acting through throat G, force themselves into theboiler. The operation once started, the flow continues and the pressurein the furnace falls until the cheekvalve B again opens and the furnaceis again filled with the hot gases under pressure, that are cooled andcontracted as they rush into the throat G by the water from the inletSteam and gas should be generated fast enough to maintain a continuousflow through the throat G into the boiler, this depending on thecapacity ofthe device for supplying air and water. After the products ofthe furnace leave the throat Gv and pass through cheek-valve g andnozzle y', they mix with. the water of j acliet f andare conducted tothe boiler, as before described. This water evens the temperature of thegases, and after the opera-tion is continued` long enough to circulateall the water of the reservoir ICC IIO

through the jacket it serves as a'reserve force in thereservoir, thesanne as the water in av common steam-boiler. After the vents are firstclosed they are kept so until it is desired to stop the operation of thegenerator, when steam is shutoff and these vents are opened. The carbonlining to the furnace will keep hot for some time, so that the operationmay be started again by closing the vents andletting on steam. Thegenerator may be actuated by compressed air from an air-compressor, inwhich ease a connection lis made with the compressor by a pipe whichwould be bolted to the main casting in place of ease A but the advantageof the device just described for supplying air and water is obvious.There are noforces wasted,as all the energy exerted in compressing andforcing the air and water into the generatoris finally carried to thereservoir. Hereinafter this device will be called injector A.

I do not claim a steam-generatorin which a combustion is maintainedunder pressure and ih which water is forced into direct contact with theburning gases.

I claiml. In a. steam-generatorin which a combustion takes place underpressure, a furnace wherein the combustion is confined, an inlet throughwhich water is forced into direct contact with the products of the saidcombustion as they leave the furnace, and a throat,G, cornbiued withvalves that guard the inlet and the outlet of the said furnace, lwherebyits gaseous products are compelled to eject themselves th rough the saidthroat andare prevented from returning thereto, substantially asdescribed.

2. Ina steanigenerator in which a combustion tak es place underpressure, the furnace D, throat G, water-inlet 1', and valves thatcompel the v gases of the said furnace to eject themselves through thesaid throat and prevent them from returning thereto, combined with theinjector A, consisting of the following elements: case A,throat a,steam-noz'zle al, and checkvalve c3, substantially as described.

' 8. The furnace D, provided with a lining of refractory material,combined with throat G, water-inlet Q7, and valves that compel the gasesof the said furnace to eject themselves through the said throat andprevent them from returning thereto, substantially as described.

4. The furnace D, provided with vents did, and vent-valves didi,combined with throat G, Water-inlet z', and valves that compel the gasesof the said furnace to eject themselves through the said throat andpreventthem from returning thereto, substantially as described.

5. The furnace D, combined with the retort E, throat G, Waterinlet i,andvalves thatvcompel the gases of the said furnace to eject themselvesthrough the said throat and prevent` them from returning thereto,substantially as described.

6. 'Ihe furnace D, throat G, valves that cornpel the gases of the saidfurnace to ejectthemselves through the said throat and prevent them fromreturning thereto, combined with the water-jacketf, substantially asdescribed.

v NORMAN EATON. Vilnesses:

L. W. HoWEs, j WM. H. CHAMBER'LIN.

